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Greater Germanic Reich
Germany, officially the Greater Germanic Reich, (German: Großdeutsches Reich), also known as the Third Reich is a country located in Central Europe, which dominates a gigantic empire, stretching from the far reaches of the Ural Mountains and Siberia, to the American Mid-West. A single-party totalitarian dictatorship, the Reich is based on the the tenants of National Socialism, which incorporates a pseudo-scientific hierarchy and pan-German nationalism. The capital of the Reich is Berlin, renamed to Germania after the end of the war. It is nearly re-constructed following the conclusion of the war to the specifications of Albert Speer. The city is based on a series of monuments and grandeur never seen before since the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. As the victor of the Second Weltkrieg, the Reich is in control of vast swathes of territory, establishing their gargantuan colonial empire overseas, taking over most of West and Central Africa, along with the majority of the United States, whilst in Europe, they established Reichskommissariats in what was formerly the Soviet Union, beginning the goal of Lebensraum, or "Living Space". They do not administer these territories directly, however, using puppet governments, tasked in enforcing the dominance of the Reich over others. The Reich is a superpower, advancing technologically and innovating in ways no other country has achieved. It also leads an alliance, known as the Großweltgouvernment, or the Greater World Government, a military and economic union of many nations. Name The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Großdeutsches Reich from 1943 to 1945, while common English terms are "Nazi Germany" and "Third Reich". The latter, adopted by Nazi propaganda as Drittes Reich, was first used in a 1923 book by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck. The book counted the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) as the first Reich and the German Empire (1871–1918) as the second. The Nazis used it to legitimize their regime as a successor state. After they seized power, Nazi propaganda retroactively referred to the Weimar Republic as the Zwischenreich ("Interim Reich"). History Formation The seeds from which the Reich would grow were sown with the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, on June 28, 1919. Being the primary belligerent of the losing side, Germany suffered harsh and humiliating terms, including crippling war reparations, near complete disarmament, numerous territorial concessions, and admission of guilt for causing the war. In September 19, 1919, Adolf Hitler, a WWI veteran, joined a small political party at a beer hall in Munich, Germany. Through the power of his oratory skills and sheer force of personality, he manipulated its "Leader" Anton Drexler and eventually usurped him two years later, transforming this little party (the German Workers’ Party) into a burgeoning political movement. That party was the National Socialist German Workers' Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), or Nazi Party. During Germany's economic crisis, they struggled to re-pay the Allies of World War I back, and thus, the French occupied the German industrial region of the Ruhr, exporting the output of the factories in that region as war reparations. During the occupation, many Germans died as a result, causing the German people to be furious. Seeing this, Hitler took his chance to take control and stage a coup, on November 23, beginning the Beer Hall Putsch. With this, Hitler and many of his supporters, including Rudolf Hess, Erich Ludendorff (whom was a German War General during the First World War), Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring, stormed a beer hall and then marched on the streets of Munich. However, they failed to stage the coup, with the revolution being suppressed by the Reichswehr, the German military. He was trialed for treason against the government, and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, of which he served only 9 months, where he wrote his autobiography, Mein Kampf ''(German for "My Struggle"). Hitler based the Nazi platform on reversing the Treaty of Versailles, restrengthening the nation, and on a stab-in-the-back (''Dolchstoßlegende) notion that the German military did not "lose" the war but was rather betrayed at a critical moment by traitorous civilians (Communists, Jews), thereby causing the war effort to fail. These policies proved popular among those embittered by the Treaty. The Great Depression allowed the party's popularity to grow even faster as impoverished Germans flocked to Hitler's banner. The Nazi Party grew steadily until it became the largest political entity in the Weimar Republic in 1933. On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set afire. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch communist, was found guilty of starting the blaze. Hitler proclaimed that the arson marked the start of a communist uprising. Violent suppression of communists by the Sturmabteilung (SA) was undertaken nationwide and four thousand members of the Communist Party of Germany were arrested. The Reichstag Fire Decree, imposed on 28 February 1933, rescinded most German civil liberties, including rights of assembly and freedom of the press. The decree also allowed the police to detain people indefinitely without charges or a court order. The legislation was accompanied by a propaganda blitz that led to public support for the measure. Having more seats than any other party in the Reichstag ''(the legislative body of the Republic) Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor (''Reichskanzler) in January 30, 1933. The NSDAP quickly moved to silence all opposition to its power by passing the Enabling Act of 1933. This act spelled the end of the Weimar Republic by granting Chancellor Hitler emergency powers, abolishing all other political parties, and stripping away almost all powers of the Reichstag. In 1934, after the death of President Hindenburg (who was all but a figurehead at this point) Hitler merged the offices of Reichspräsident ''with his own into a new one: ''Führer und Reichskanzler, more commonly referred to as Der Führer (The Leader). In this new government, Hitler wielded absolute power and Nazi bureaucracy became a collection of factions "working towards the Führer": Hitler issued vague instructions on many policies and expected his subordinates to work the details out on their own. The demands of the SA for more political and military power caused anxiety among military, industrial, and political leaders. In response, Hitler purged the entire SA leadership in the Night of the Long Knives, which took place from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Hitler targeted Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher)—were rounded up, arrested, and shot. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment with massive military spending and extensive public work projects, such as the continued construction of the Autobahn (high speed highways). These acts boosted the regime's popularity. Driven by a desire to avenge the punishments of the First World War and its hated Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive military actions (much to the dismay of many of the German military high command). First, in 1935, the state reintroduced mass conscription, and in 1936 it moved to occupy the Rhineland region (a demilitarized zone); both actions constituted direct violations of the Treaty. The Third Reich Ascending To be added.